Monday, March 30, 2015

Recent Decorating Projects~

Where has March gone? I feel like this month has flown by! I've had a lot of fun working on the house lately. As I cleaned out my studio, I realized how I have hoarded fabric over the last several years...always planning to make something with it, but rarely doing so. I've always loved a particular vintage sheet with little blue posies on it, and I decided it was finally time to make some comfy pillows for the chairs in my sun room. They were so easy to make, that I don't know why I put it off for so long!

I pulled up the little end table from the basement also. It's funny how things that I have had in my basement finally find a home after I start playing around with other things in the house. It's like a domino effect. I guess it spurs creativity. I think I will try out some of Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint on it. There is just too much dark wood going on in there with the chairs and the floor etc. Any ideas on what color to paint it?

Oh, and see that globe back in the corner? It is making it's way around the house. I love how it looks on top of the old typewriter case. (which relocated as well). My clock from France fell off the wall and broke, so now I have new plans for the wall above the book shelves.

We finally finished installing the bead board around the peninsula. Or rather, it has been installed for months, and I just got around to caulking the holes and painting it. I think it will look nice when I get new counter tops. I think I'm going to go with a quartz that resembles marble. What do you think? The cabinets are mostly cream.

My sewing machine has been up and running again. I finally hemmed the curtains in the piano room. Love them!

I also put vintage sheet music in a painted frame next to the piano. (sorry bad photo) The little silhouette is of Grace. Her church youth leaders made it for her. They put wrapping paper behind it, which I plan to change out with cute scrapbook paper. I love the idea, and it was so nice that they did that for all the girls.

Speaking of Grace, I found this clothing tag with a picture of her as a little girl on it, that I made when I used to sew dresses. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but couldn't part with it! So, I decided to hang it on the console table in the entryway.

I had been following her around snapping photos, and she stuck her little toes in the mud!

I have a renewed love of gold frames. Not shiny, yellow gold, but an antiqued looking brownish gold finish. Long ago, I brushed a little brown craft paint over this gold frame to give it just the look that I wanted.

I was reading my scriptures a while ago, and came across this chapter. In verse 4, we read

"For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand."

It was so comforting to be reminded that even though we have tribulation in this life, if we have faith and are obedient to God, we will be crowned with glory. This had become a theme in my reading, and reminded me of Lucy being crowned. I knew the Lord was teaching me. And that day, as I walked down the stairs, I felt different. I walked taller. I knew I needed an image of a crown,a symbol, to remind me each day of God's love and the eternal glory He has in store for us.

So, I found an old grain sack, and drew a picture of a crown on it in black ink. (I had tried to print one that I found online using the wax paper printing method, but it didn't work for me, so I had to resort to drawing it). Then, I found this gold frame downstairs. (It was left over from this project.) I "antiqued" it as I did the other by brushing it with some brown paint. Then I cut out the image on the fabric and mounted it on hard board before sticking it in the frame.

And there it hangs, as a sweet reminder of God's love...every time I walk down the stairs.